


Letters

by TicEnchantedToc



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: After the Hollow Knight is sealed away, Before the Game Begins, Light Angst, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-12
Packaged: 2021-03-19 12:08:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29999130
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TicEnchantedToc/pseuds/TicEnchantedToc
Summary: Hornet loathes the gifts and tokens that the citizens have sent off to thank the Hollow Knight and finally chooses to voice her mind.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 16





	Letters

Bottles bobbed along the dark waterways through the capital, handwritten notes carefully written inside. Now that the quarantine had lifted, families had donned their cloaks and packed bags for pilgrimages to the temple far above. Others journeyed to the city, admiring the great statue in the center of the square. Children would leave their scrawled pictures or letters at the fountain's base. 

Hornet scoffed. What was the appeal with letters? Those bottles would never be opened, those letters would never be read. Their meaningless tokens of gratitude were just that, meaningless. 

No mind to think. No will to break. No sight to read or heart to feel. 

Someday the statue would crumble, and the letters would be waterlogged, their ink bled to illegibility. Hornet knew how people were with their gods, their kings, their heroes. They would adore and praise them for an age, then forget them forever. 

Letters… Great Wyrms, how she hated those letters! 

She pressed her forehead against the glass, a few cool droplets slithering down her face. Deep down, she knew why. Hornet had been just like them once. She had been young and naive. She had begged her father, her mother,  _ anyone _ that Hollow wouldn't have to leave. She had sat in the temple for hours, talking to the seal despite knowing they wouldn't answer. 

Hollow was gone. As much as she didn't want to accept it, she knew she had to. But seeing all these grateful, clueless people sending their praises to them still made her feel queasy. 

They shouldn't have to be thanked. They shouldn't have had to be sacrificed at all! They should have been able to stay home, to be Hornet's sibling, to have a heart and a mind and a soul. Hollow didn't deserve this… Her mother, Monomon, and Lurien didn't deserve this. Even if it was selfish,  _ she _ didn't deserve this either. 

They had done nothing wrong, so why did they have to pay the price for it?

Hornet turned from the window, her cloak billowing behind her. Her soft footsteps echoed up across the towering ceiling of the Palace. A butler gave her a quick bow before scurrying off, the determination clear in her black eyes. She slipped into one of the studies that the old scholars would frequent when all of Hallownest was in panic. Though it was mere days ago, it felt like a different lifetime or perhaps a different kingdom entirely. 

She took a scroll from the walls of shelves and settled at the desk. The chair dwarfed even the tips of her horns, and her spidery legs sunk into the thick velvet meant for much larger bugs. With a faint huff, she lifted the quill from its inkwell and began to write. 

_ Dear Father. _

**Author's Note:**

> I had this image in my mind of Hornet watching letters sent to the Hollow Knight for a long time and finally found the words to write it down. I loved getting to explore what I think Hornet's emotions were after losing her sibling and how she expressed them. Real quick, I'd also like to apologize if my descriptions of the City of Tears or the White Palace aren't very accurate as I haven't yet reached those areas in my own playthrough.


End file.
